The new market challenges and the strategies of the wine companies

In my new role as editor-in-chief of WEP Journal, I would like to share with you a brief summary of the experience of these early years. In this editorial, I will focus on certain significant data and highlight several topics that, more than others, have inspired the authors of the published papers, since they reflect the major concerns of the wine industry in this period

A letter by the Editor-in-chief

n/

Sustainability and Well-Being: The Perception of Younger Generations and Their Expectations

The paper aims at analyzing the level of knowledge and the perception of the concepts of sustainability and well-being of high school students in Tuscany. It is an explorative study carried out during specific events held in high schools with the support of the teachers; during the events, students were asked to fill a questionnaire designed to elicit their relation with these topics as well as the level of involvement of their families. The results provide an interesting starting point for a debate about what the expectations of younger generations are and what we can do to match them. The debate moves from the assessment of the importance of sustainability and well-being indicators and the relevance of perceived threats. Moreover, the results put the role of institutions (and in particular that of public schools) under scrutiny to develop the level of awareness and to promote knowledge transfer

Sustainability and Food: a Text Analysis of the Scientific Literature

The paper analyses the evolution of the research debate related to sustainability and to the relation between food and sustainability. A number of text analysis techniques were combined for the investigation of scientific papers. The results stress how discourse analysis of sustainability in the pre-Rio period is mostly associated with agriculture and with a vision where the ecological and environmental aspects are dominant. In the post-Rio phase, the discussion about sustainability, though still strongly linked to environmental issues, enters a holistic dimension that includes social elements. The themes of energy and the sustainability of urban areas become central, and the scientific debate stresses the importance of indicators within an assessment approach linked to the relevance of planning and intervention aspects. The focus on the role of food within the debate on sustainability highlights a food security oriented approach in the pre-Rio phase, with a particular attention towards agriculture and third world Countries. In the post-Rio period, the focus of the analysis moves towards developed Countries. Even though food security remains a strongly significant element of the debate, the attention shifts towards consumers and food choices

Productivity growth in the winery sector: evidence from Italy and Spain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate total productivity change in the winery sector, decomposing it into efficiency change and technical change. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on the estimation of the Malmquist productivity index for a sample of Spanish and Italian wineries between 2005 and 2013. Findings – The results show very low efficiency levels for the wineries under study. Further, Spanish and Italian wineries show a decrease in their average annual productivity for the period of time analysed. Practical implications – The analysis of the efficiency and the productivity of the wineries is crucial to improve their competitiveness and guarantee their survival. Originality/value – For the first time, a comparative analysis is carried out with data from two major wine-producing countries